Rejection
by Ghostboy814
Summary: Danny gets brave enough to ask Sam out, but instead she goes out with another guy! How can Danny cope? By running away to the only person who can hope to understand him, of course! I'll try to work some DxS in later on.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

"Hey, Sam," seventeen-year-old Danny Fenton greeted one of his best friends (and secret crush) at her locker one Tuesday morning.

"Oh, hi Danny. What's up?"

"Nothing, nothing at all…" she gave him a look of disbelief. "Okay, something's up. Something like THESE!" he exclaimed as he held out two tickets. "Not one, but _two_, count 'em, _two_ tickets to see Saw III this Friday. You in?" He anxiously played with his blue long-sleeved shirt as he waited for her response.

"I…I can't, Danny," Sam replied, her gaze set on the floor.

"Why not?" he asked, crestfallen.

"Because…because I have a date this Friday night." Danny gawked at her.

"A date? With who?"

"I can't tell you…"

"Why not?"

"Because you'll just get really angry and take it out on them." Danny sighed and held her face in one of his hands as he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"Sammy, you know I'd never do that," he said softly. Sam jerked away from him.

"I'm sorry, Danny." She turned and walked away to her first class. Danny mentally kicked himself for waiting so long to get the courage to finally ask her out. Maybe if he'd done it sooner, this wouldn't have happened…

"I guess I'll ask Tucker," the raven-haired teen said to himself as he walked down the hallway and turned the corner.

"Hey Tuck, what's up?"

"Nothing much, dude. You?"

"Well, I've got a couple of tickets to Saw III this Friday. Do you want to come see it with me?"

"I can't, I've got a date this Friday. Sorry, man."

"Ugh, that's what Sam said! Who're you going out with?"

"Secret." Danny's left eye twitched as he headed to his own locker to get the books he'd need for first period English.

The rest of that school week was awkward, to say the least. Neither Sam nor Tucker would stay with Danny long enough to hold a conversation, and when they did the topic of the conversation would immediately shift to that Friday night. Danny would always ask the two of them who they were going out with, and neither of them would tell him. They both said that he'd just get really angry and take it out on them, which no matter how much Danny denied it, he knew it to be true. There were moments when it took nearly all of his strength to keep his hands from erupting into glowing green ectoplasmic energy and shooting a huge ectoblast into the heavens just to blow off steam. The severe look on his face was enough to scare even Dash away from bothering him.

_Note to self: Never take Jazz to see a movie ever again. Ever._ These were Danny's thoughts as he flew home from the Multiplex on Friday night. He'd just spent a lovely two and a half hours listening to his sister yammer on about how this and that couldn't really occur, and that the director took way to many liberties when making the movie. He checked his watch and decided that Sam and Tucker would probably be home from their dates by now, so he changed courses and flew to Sam's house in order to talk with her. He reasoned that maybe she'd at least tell him who her date had been, now that it was over.

Danny silently phased into Sam's room and looked around. Despite all of the black everywhere, it was apparent that the lights were out and nobody was there. Danny was about to turn and leave when he heard a slight shuffle. He looked in the direction that the sound had come from and his eyes alighted on the bed. Danny flew over to the bed and saw a lump underneath the covers that had to have been Sam. For the second time in as many minutes, he was crouched down, ready to turn intangible and fly outside when he was stopped. The lump on Sam's bed rolled over, revealing a second lump underneath it. Danny felt as though he was going to cry, but the next thing he saw drove him over the edge. A sleeping Sam poked her head out from under the covers.

She was wearing a red beret.

A single tear landed on Sam's forehead, and she dazedly opened her eyes to see whose it was. But it was too late. The tear's owner was long gone.

* * *

_It can't be…_ Danny thought as he zoomed around Amity Park that night. _It just can't…my best friend and the girl I love, together…how could Tucker do this? He's my best friend! Or at least, he was. He knew how I felt about Sam, knew how much I love her, and decided to sleep with her anyway. Sam I can forgive. I never told her how I felt, so I can't blame her for seeing someone else. That much is my fault. But I just can't overlook what Tuck did! Ugh, there isn't a single person on the planet who can understand what I'm going through, except maybe Vlad._ At this point, Danny stopped in mid-air. _Vlad! He was in love with Mom, but then Dad, his best friend, married her instead of him! He'll understand what I'm going through! But first…_ Danny flew into Tucker's house and entered his room. He saw hundreds of pieces of technology scattered around the room. Gadgets were on his bed, all over the floor, on his desk, and sticking out of drawers.

_Target practice,_ Danny thought as a malicious grin unfurled itself on his face.

Ten minutes and ten thousand ectoblasts later, Danny flew out of Tucker's house and headed towards Wisconsin. Had anyone been watching him at the moment, they would have noticed that his luminescent green eyes flashed red for a second before reverting back to their usual green. Danny continued to fly through the night and didn't stop the exhausting flight until he reached Vlad's castle.

As Vlad's mansion came into sight, Danny slowed down and approached the ground. He reached the main entrance and changed back, then grabbed the football-helmet-shaped knocker and knocked three times on the wooden door.

"Yes, what is it?" Vlad's angry voice could be heard from inside the castle. He opened the door and looked down at Danny, who had tiredly sank to his knees.

"Daniel? What could you possibly want at this hour?" Vlad asked, surprised.

"Best friend…slept with…love of my life…need advice…" Danny murmured before he passed out. Vlad sadly looked down at the broken young man before him and sighed. He picked Danny up and carried him inside.

Danny groggily opened his eyes and saw Skulker's metallic face a foot away from his own. He jumped back and hit his head on the headboard of the king-sized bed that he'd been placed in.

"Good, you're awake," Skulker stated. "I'll go tell Plasmius." He turned intangible and phased up through the ceiling.

"That was weird," Danny muttered, then began to take in his surroundings. The bed he was in was much larger than the one he had had at home, and much more comfortable. He felt the red blanket and it was extremely soft to the touch. His room was painted a deep blue, a fact that relieved Danny tremendously. The last thing he wanted was to wake up to green and gold, no thanks to Vlad's odd Packers obsession. Speaking of which, the elder hybrid burst through Danny's door dressed in green pajamas decorated with yellow football helmets.

"Don't you dare laugh at my sleepwear," he warned. "Skulker's taken care of that quite nicely." His tone softened as he sat down on the bed next to Danny. "Now that you're not about to faint, can you tell me why you're here?"

"I…caught the girl of my dreams sleeping with my best friend," Danny whispered. "I thought about how the same thing happened with you and my parents, so I thought that you'd know better than anyone what I should do." Vlad chuckled dryly.

"Daniel, you should know me better than that. You know as well as I do that I've spent twenty years of my life plotting to destroy your father and win over your mother. That's the path that I've chosen in the aftermath of my heartbreak. You didn't have to come all the way here to know that."

"I know, but…I also needed to get away…it still hurts so much…" Vlad sighed and ruffled Danny's hair.

"There, there, little badger. It's going to be alright, I promise." Danny relaxed a bit and settled down in the bed. He gave a huge yawn and leaned back against the pillows.

"Go to sleep now, Daniel. We can talk about this tomorrow if you like."

"Oh, and Vlad?"

"Yes, Daniel."

"Nice PJ's…" Danny's face held a quiet smirk as he drifted off to sleep. Vlad couldn't suppress a small smile as he ruffled Danny's hair again, left the room, and quietly closed the door.

* * *

Danny woke up the next morning to find that he was starving. He looked over at the clock on the night table next to his bed and realized with a start that it was ten-thirty in the morning. He got out of bed and noticed that he was still wearing the same clothes as the night before. Danny shuffled over to the closet and opened it. Inside was a vast walk-in closet that seemed to be filled solely with white dress shirts and black slacks. He grimaced, but couldn't find any other pieces of clothing besides socks and underwear. Danny took a hot shower in the bathroom that adjoined his room, and changed into one of the outfits. It fit perfectly. Slightly creeped out by Vlad's knowledge of his clothing size, Danny went down a couple of flights of stairs and found the kitchen after several agonizingly long minutes of searching. He poured himself a bowl of Cheerios and sat down at the kitchen table to eat.

Halfway through his breakfast, Danny heard a mechanical whine. He turned around and yelped when he saw Walker pointing one of the metal rods that shoot green energy that could restrain a ghost that his guards usually wielded at him. Walker held the device up to Danny's chest for a second, but then lowered it and turned it off.

"If Plasmius didn't make us promise not to hurt you while you're here, you'd be in my prison by now," the ghostly jailer asserted.

"Wait a minute, you work for Vlad too?"

"Everyone who's anyone is connected to Plasmius in some way or another."

"Where is he now?"

"That's why I'm here. Plasmius sent me to inform you that he's at his office right now and won't be home for a couple of hours."

"Great…what am I supposed to do until he gets back?" Danny asked angrily.

"YES, I win again!" Walker exclaimed as he collected his chips.

"You don't have to rub it in," Skulker sulked.

"Yeah, dude, nobody wants to play with a braggert.

"Hey, I didn't suggest that we play Texas Hold-'em. That was your idea."

"Yeah, that was before we knew you lived in Texas when you were alive!" Danny countered. Walker simply shrugged.

"What can I say? Don't mess with Texas." Just then, the three of them heard the front door of the castle open and footsteps approach the kitchen. Before they could hide, Vlad entered the room and saw the three of them playing poker. He paused and stared at them for five long, silent seconds.

"You should know better than to play Texas Hold-'em with Walker, Skulker." Skulker grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, I know, but I thought that today I might get lucky." Vlad pulled a beer out of the fridge and sat down next to Walker.

"Sam Adams? Pussy…" Walker muttered as he eyed the bottle.

"What was that?" Vlad asked as his eyes began glowing a pupilless red.

"I said…I like your taste in beer!"

"That's what I thought you said." Vlad's eyes returned to their normal ice-blue as he surveyed the table.

"So, Daniel, I see you've been enjoying yourself during your first day of heartbreak."

"I was, until you made me relive it…" the boy mumbled.

"So are you ready to talk, or not yet?"

"It depends…you wouldn't happen to have any mind-numbing video games, would you?"

"Yeah, if you like Madden. I shot Packers, though." Danny cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Dude, you seriously need help."

"That's what Spectra said." Danny stared at him, not sure whether or not he was joking.

"So Madden it is, then?" he suddenly said.

"Yeah, that works," Vlad quickly replied. He and Danny went ghost, and the two of them and Walker and Skulker phased down into the game room. Vlad and Skulker played as the Packers, and Danny and Walker played as the Texans.

"Let's liven up this shindig!" Vlad exclaimed as the game began.

"That's forty-one to zip. Nada. Zilch." Vlad crowed as he gave Skulker a high-five and the game ended.

"Wow," Danny thought out loud. "Beaten at video games by Vlad and Skulker. Tucker will never let me live this down." Half a second later, he realized what he'd just said and clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Ready to talk about it?" Vlad asked him as he gave him a knowing gaze.

"Yeah…" Danny replied, and the two of them went into Vlad's private study, leaving the two ghosts by themselves. They sat in an awkward silence for about thirty seconds.

"Well, I'm going to start cooking dinner," Skulker announced as he got up from the couch and flew back into the kitchen. Walker shrugged and flicked on the TV.

* * *

Well, what do you think? I decided to center it at Vlad's place so thatI could play around with Walker/Skulker/Vlad humor for a bit, and keep the main plot around the edges, at least until chapter 3. Anyway, I've already written chapter 2, and I'll update as soon as I get enough reviews. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

"So how are you feeling?" Vlad asked, after he and Danny settled down on opposite sides of Vlad's mahogany desk.

"I feel…betrayed because Tucker went out with Sam even though he knew that I was in love with her. I'm hurt that they were getting together but they didn't even tell me. I mean, it'd be much easier to accept if they had just said that they were going out instead of being all secretive about it!"

"If you love this girl as much as you say you do, would you really have been more accepting if she'd told you that she was going out with your best friend? Do you honestly mean to tell me that you wouldn't attack him as soon as you saw him?" Danny held up a hand that was glowing with green energy. It was answer enough.

"What if they were to break up? What if the two of them were to stop being together? Would you accept them then?" Vlad asked him.

"I…don't know. If Sam were to come to me, then maybe I'd forgive her. As for Tucker…I could learn to forgive him over time if he could provide a really good excuse as to why he did what he did." Danny gave a long sigh, and deflated slightly as all of his pent-up emotions ebbed out of him.

"Feeling better?" Vlad asked him.

"A little. Not as betrayed as before. But I'm still angry at the world." Vlad chuckled.

"That I can help you with. Come on, let's spar." Danny grinned maliciously and went ghost at the same time as Vlad.

"Hello misplaced aggression!" Danny exclaimed as he launched a series of lightning-fast punches at Vlad, who managed to dodge all of them. Vlad flew outside of the castle and Danny turned intangible and followed. As soon as Danny regained tangibility, Vlad shot a pink ectoblast at him but Danny separated at the waist to avoid it.

"One piece of advice, Daniel. Look behind you!" Vlad shouted and Danny turned around. A Plasmius duplicate had caught the original Vlad's ectoblast and sent it right at Danny, who took the hit dead-on and sank a couple of feet in the air.

"I could say the same thing to you," Danny replied as he vanished from sight. The two Vlads scanned the area. That is, until one of them was hit by a green ectoblast from above and disappeared in a flash of pink light. The original Vlad looked up and saw Danny, his right hand smoking.

"Very good, Daniel!" he exclaimed, then teleported up to Danny's level. "But not good enough." Vlad and Danny each launched ectoblasts at each other, and the two blasts met in mid-air. Each of the two halfas put all of their strength into the blasts, and gave them all of their concentration. The point of impact shifted left, then right, then left again, then went back to the center. All of a sudden, they heard a ringing noise. Danny recognized it as his cell phone.

"Mine," he announced as he dropped the blast and reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit. He pulled the phone out of his pocket as he was hit by Vlad's ectoblast and was launched into the side of the castle.

"Hello?" he asked as he shook his head slightly to relieve himself of the shock and flew back up into the aerial battle.

"DANNY! WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?" Jazz shouted.

"I…had to get away for a bit," Danny replied as he dodged a couple of pink ectoblasts and took a punch to the gut.

"Away? AWAY? Why could you possibly have to get away?" She asked as Danny fired a blast at Vlad, who dodged. Danny fired a second blast at where he predicted Vlad would move to dodge the first blast, and the second shot made contact.

"Something personal," Danny answered, then ducked an optic blast.

"What personal thing could have driven you to up and vanish to who-knows-where overnight?" Jazz demanded. Danny had split his upper and lower bodies and his upper body was moving every which way to dodge numerous oncoming ectoblasts, much like a Jack-in-the-box after it's sprung out of the box.

"It has to do with Sam…" Danny mumbled, then pulled both halves together and crouched into a ball.

"Sam? What about her? On second thought…don't tell me. Anyway, where are you?" She asked as an orb of green ectoplasmic energy emanated from Danny and exploded outward, eliminating two Plasmius duplicates.

"Can't tell you," he replied, then turned part of his face into a gaseous material so that the ectoblast headed his way would pass through the gigantic hole instead of hitting him.

"What? Why not?" Jazz inquired just before Danny went intangible so that Vlad's dive-bomb passed right through him.

"Because if I tell you, you'll just come looking for me. Listen, Jazz, I'm doing just fine. Promise. If I need you, I promise that I'll call. And I don't plan on staying here forever. I just came to blow off some steam. I'll talk to you later." He pressed 'end' to cut off Jazz's continued ranting, then placed the cell phone back in his pocket.

"Sorry about that, Jazz can be so annoying sometimes." Vlad shrugged.

"I had a younger brother, and I can promise you that every older sibling cares about their younger ones. They always want to protect and look out for them, even if it means seeming overprotective."

"I never knew you had any siblings, Vlad. What happened to him?"

"He died in the car accident that killed my parents."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be, dear boy. It's one of the few things in my life I've come to grips with, there's no need for you to feel any pity or anything like that." Suddenly, Danny sensed something shooting towards him from behind him. He quickly created a hole in-between his upper and lower bodies to allow the something to pass through the middle. The something turned out to be a rocket, which passed through Danny and instead hit whatever was directly in front of him. Which happened to be Vlad.

"Oof!" Vlad grunted as the rocket hit him dead-on and exploded. However, he didn't seem to be too hurt by the blast, so Danny paid him no heed. Instead, he turned around to see who had fired the rocket in the first place. Skulker floated behind him with a case of rockets popped out of a weapons port on his shoulder.

"What the heck was that for?" Danny asked him.

"To get your attention, whelp. Dinner is ready." With that, Skulker turned intangible and flew into the mansion. Vlad and Danny followed, and changed back to human once they were seated in the kitchen.

"How long were you watching us?" Vlad asked suspiciously.

"Oh, fifteen minutes or so. You know how much people hitting people piques my interest," Skulker replied as he placed a couple of covered trays on the table and lifted the covers with a flourish. The contents were a glowing green gelatinous substance that smelled something vile.

"Skulker, what in heaven's name is this rubbish?" Vlad angrily asked.

"The ectopusses after I threw them in the oven for a couple of hours." Danny and Vlad gaped at him as they each turned varying shades of green.

"Suddenly, I'm not so hungry," Danny noted.

"Me either. Are you up for some more Madden?" Vlad inquired.

"Are you kidding? I'm a teenager, when am I _not_ up for video games?" Danny and Vlad turned intangible and phased down through the floor. After they left, Walker entered the room and his eyes immediately alighted on the mush sitting on the trays.

"I take it the halfas didn't like roast ectopuss?" he asked sarcastically.

"You think? I don't understand it, this is a delicacy for ghosts. If they're part ghost, shouldn't at least _half_ of them like it?"

"That makes no sense whatsoever. But ignoring that last comment, there's more for us, right?"

"Right," Skulker replied with a smirk, and the two of them dug into the food.

* * *

"Who the hell changed the TV from ESPN to…to…_this_?" Vlad angrily asked as he gestured towards the old western playing on his plasma-screen TV. He and Danny watched as Sheriff Walker caught the varmints and dragged them into prison. 

"I'll give you three guesses which rule-obsessed, egomaniac sheriff ghost did it, and the first two don't count," Danny quipped.

"WALKER!" the two of them shouted in unison. The ghost in white phased down through the ceiling, the corners of his mouth dripping with glowing green goop.

"Hurry this up, I was enjoying my dinner," he said as his feet touched the ground.

"Wait a minute," Danny replied. "Dinner? You mean…you _ate_ that stuff?" Walker simply shrugged. Danny's face turned green and he sprinted for the door.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," he mumbled as he ran past Vlad.

"Me too," the elder halfa muttered, then followed Danny out of the TV room. Walker shrugged again and plopped down in front of the TV.

"That Sheriff person is one sharp-looking guy," he noted as he licked the remains of the ectopusses from the corner of his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

Things were going fairly well for the new couple during the first few days of their relationship. Casper High was divided between those who felt that Sam and Tucker were both geeks so it was okay for them to become an item, and those who had always placed their money on Sam getting together with Danny. The two teens decided that they were ready to tell their friend that they had decided to get together. The only problem was, they couldn't find him.

"Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked as he called the role during first-period English. The out-of-shape teacher glanced around the room and, upon noticing that his student wasn't present, _again_, marked him down as 'absent'.

"You think its ghost trouble?" Sam whispered into Tucker's ear.

"Probably. He'll be here third period, at the latest," he whispered back.

"Excuse me, is there something you lovebirds would like to share with us?" Lancer interrupted the hurried conversation.

"Uh…n-nothing in particular…" Sam nervously responded as a blush crept up her neck, giving the perfect impression of one who was just caught whispering naughty things to their neighbor.

"Good. Now, on with the lesson…" Lancer droned on as the rest of the class snickered at the incident.

Unfortunately for Sam and Tucker, Danny didn't show up by third period. Or lunch. In fact, he didn't come to school the entire day. Tucker and Sam were leaving school and walking in the direction of the Nasty Burger. They were about to try and find Jazz to ask if he was sick or something when she found them.

"Guys, have either of you two seen Danny today?" She asked them.

"No, we were just going to find you to ask you if he was sick today; he never came to school," Sam replied.

"Do you think it's, you know," she glanced left, then right to make sure that nobody was listening in, "Phantom stuff?"

"We thought so at the beginning of the day, but usually if something happens in the morning he'll be in before lunch at the latest. Unless it was a really powerful ghost, or Danny's really hurt…"

"WHAT? We have to go find him then!" Jazz exclaimed as she grabbed Sam and Tucker's wrists and made to drag them to the park.

"Whoa, easy Jazz, you don't have to tear our arms off," Sam said as she and Tucker extricated themselves with difficulty from Jazz's iron grip. "We'll go to the park and see if he's there. You go check the arcade, and then see if he's in your house."

"Works for me," Jazz replied as she walked to the nearest intersection and turned left. They could see her pull out her cell phone as she walked, probably to call Danny and maybe get in contact with him. Tucker and Sam went to the park and sat down on a bench. He put her arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I hope Danny's okay," Sam mumbled.

"Me too…you don't think he saw us, do you?"

"I'm not sure…if he did, then that explains why he left."

"You think he's jealous?"

"Why would he be? It's not like he ever liked me as anything more than a friend…" She started crying softly into Tucker's shirt, and he enveloped her in a tight hug and let her cry onto his shoulder.

"Shh…" he cooed. "He didn't mean to break your heart all those times, you know that."

"I know he didn't mean to, but he did. I hope he's feeling what I felt while he was dating Valerie." Tucker paused, as a sudden thought struck him.

_Nah, she wouldn't go out with me just to make Danny jealous. Sam isn't like that._ Tucker silently berated himself for even thinking that and softly stroked Sam's raven hair.

A pair of red eyes invisibly watched the two of them, and then flew away rapidly. Snow-white hair blew back as the watcher sped back towards Wisconsin.

* * *

Slowly, ever so slowly, days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Sam and Tucker were happy together at first, but they inevitably began drifting apart. They simply had too many differences to continue to be so close together for an extended period of time, and they realized that Danny had been the mediator, the glue that really held the trio together. It was a sad day for both of them when they broke up. Tucker went to join the other tech geeks, and Sam started hanging out with the other Goths. But it just wasn't the same. 

Tucker found that the geeks didn't have any sort of social life whatsoever. He could only chat with them online, whereas he'd always at least get to go hang out somewhere besides the internet when he hung out with Danny and Sam. And computer games were fun, but not when they consumed his entire life outside of school.

Sam realized that her views were actually mild compared to some of the other Goths. It wasn't long before she was under pressure to get tattoos and more piercings, and start doing drugs. Since she felt that she wasn't ready to go to those extremes just yet, she decided to leave the Goth group and remain by herself. She grew depressed and angry over the fact that she had lost her two best friends to jealousy. After all, she had only really gotten together with Tucker to make Danny jealous and feel what she felt all those times. With him gone, she couldn't stay with Tucker for an extended period of time, and she ended up losing both of them. The only thing keeping her from attempting suicide was a small hope that maybe, someday, Danny would return and forgive her for ever trying to play with his heart like that.

Danny began to change as well. Despite his assurances to Vlad that he'd be able to forgive his friends for getting together behind his back, he couldn't stop evil thoughts from popping into his mind now and again. His eyes were now constantly red while in ghost form. His daily sparring sessions with Vlad became ever more intense, and after the second week his ecto-signature changed from green to bright red. He grew a couple of inches, and the constant fighting caused him to develop sleek muscles. He began fighting dirty, and in the third month, he actually beat Vlad. As he stood over Plasmius' unconscious body, he laughed a dark laugh that caused even Walker to get goosebumps. His ghost form also began to change. Instead of a one-piece jumpsuit, his costume was divided in two. The lower part looked the same, but the upper part was now white with three black lines that converged just over his heart. The place where they intersected was adorned with his DP insignia. He looked like a younger version of Dan, save for the hair. His hair was still the same as it had always been. As time went on, he found himself thinking about Sam with an obsession that nearly rivaled Vlad's obsession with his mother. If only they could see each other again…he would make her his, and they would be together for all eternity. Even if that meant removing Tucker from the picture. Of course, Danny didn't know that Sam and Tucker had broken up, nor did he realize that Sam was still in love with him.

* * *

Well, I didn't want to end that with a really corny line, so I had to stick with that somewhat weak ending. Anyway, what did I tell you? I can't write an entire fic based on TxS! Next chapter I bring the two _real_ lovebirds together, and hopefully work in some fluff. The end of this chapter was way too dark; hopefully I'll be able to turn it around next chapter. 

Thank you all so much for the reviews I've gotten during the last 2 chapters! I'd say 'keep it up,' but I don't want to sound as though I write for the sole purpose of reviewing. Review if you feel like it, or if you think that my writing needs to improve somehow. Just don't review because I want you to, because that's selfish on my part. See you next update!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

"Daniel, we're going to have some guests for the next couple of days," Vlad announced at dinner sometime during the fourth month since Danny ran away. "One of the biggest investors in my company is going to be coming to visit one weekend, and he'll be bringing his family along. He has a daughter your age, you know."

"I don't care," Danny replied coldly. "There's no girl other than Sam that means anything to me."

"Sammykins, the owner of a company I'm invested in has invited us to spend the weekend with him, and we'll be leaving tomorrow. He has a son your age, you know."

"Dad, I'm not getting together with one of the rich, snobby sons of CEO's that you and Mom are always trying to set me up with. I'm only interested in Danny," Sam replied, her arms crossed.

As the limousine pulled up at Vlad Manor, Sam didn't bother to hide her grimace. The absolute _last_ place on earth she wanted to be was at Vlad's place. She had agreed with Danny that he was a crazed-up fruit loop who _really_ needed to get a cat. And it wasn't like Danny would even be there; he hated Vlad more than she did, so it was the last place on earth _he'd_ want to be at as well. There was no chance whatsoever that he would run away to a douche like Vlad.

A scowl so deep it could have been written in stone was etched onto Sam's face as she stood in-between her parents on Vlad's doorstep. Her father rang the bell and Vlad himself opened the door.

"Why hello! Welcome to my home! I trust you had a pleasant drive?" The white-haired halfa asked.

"Yes, it was fabulous," Sam's father replied in his usual over-preppy tone.

"Excellent, excellent. Why don't the three of you go unpack, I'll have my son show you to your rooms."

"Yes," Mrs. Manson interrupted. "We had heard that you'd adopted a son. Very kind of you."

"Why thank you, Mrs. Manson. He's seventeen years old, and his name's Daniel." Sam's ears perked up. _Daniel? No way…but Vlad wouldn't _actually_ adopt someone, he's too coldhearted. So it must be-_

Her thoughts were interrupted when the very object of her thoughts walked up and stood beside Vlad.

"Daniel, I'd like you to meet Mr. And Mrs. Manson, and their daughter, Samantha." If Danny registered that he was in the presence of his childhood friend and the object of his undying obsession, he didn't show it.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said in a monotone voice as he shook Sam's parent's hands, and lightly kissed hers. He stoically picked up their bags and began walking away.

"I'll show you to your rooms," he called back in that same monotone voice. Slightly perturbed, the three Mansons followed him upstairs. He showed the adults their room first, then went up a flight of stairs and entered the third door on the right. He placed Sam's bags on the floor and turned to face her.

"Danny, I missed you so much-" she began, but he held up a hand to interrupt her.

"First explain why I flew home that Friday evening to talk with you and found you in bed with my best friend." Sam looked at the floor, deepest remorse evident in her eyes.

"I just…I wanted you to feel like I did while you were dating Valerie. I didn't want to sleep with him at first, but we kind of got carried away…" she looked up and found that his eyes were glowing a pupilless crimson.

"He did that with you and you didn't want it? Tucker Foley, you are officially a dead man."

"Danny, stop!" Sam pleaded as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "You're not evil, I know it. Stop acting this way, please?" He pulled away from her and looked down at her pleading form.

"Maybe I _am_ evil now. Maybe seeing Tuck do that with you, the love of my life, drove me to become evil." He laughed a cold, bitter laugh when he saw her facial expression; whether she looked shocked because he'd told her that he chose to become evil or that she was the love of his life he couldn't tell. He pressed on. "What, you thought that Vlad corrupted me and made me this way? On the contrary, he was trying to prevent me from taking this path! The old fruit loop's scared of me, Sam. _Scared_ of me. Has been ever since I beat him in one of our sparring matches." She stared at him openmouthed, but then finally composed herself.

"You truly have become like him, haven't you?" she asked coldly.

"I have," he answered.

"What happened to the boy I fell in love with?" She demanded, and he stared back at her, a shocked expression apparent on his features.

"You…you loved me?"

"I did. I still do. But I'll never be yours if you choose to be evil." The cold grin returned to his features.

"But Sammy, I thought you were Goth!"

"Trust me, I'm nowhere near as Gothic as some of the people I had hung out with after Tucker and I broke up."

"Wait a minute, the two of you broke up?" Danny asked, and for a fleeting second Sam saw a spark of life in his ice-blue eyes. The spark that had melted the ice and let her drown in them on many an occasion.

"Yeah. Both of us realized that we only got into the relationship because I'd wanted to make you jealous, but it wasn't worth having you run away. We were just too different to keep a relationship, so we split up."

Danny was speechless. For so many months he'd thought that he would have to go back to Amity, eliminate Tucker, and bring Sam back with him, by force if necessary. He had become evil in order to do these things without suffering moral repercussions. But if he didn't have to be this way to win her heart, if she loved him for just being who he was…then there was no point in remaining evil any longer. As he reached this epiphany he felt the darkness that had encased his heart like plaster melt away, and the evil that clouded his eyes make way for light to shine through once again.

"Well," he finally replied as his face cracked into a grin, the first time he'd truly smiled in four months, and his eyes sparkled, "it worked, and if it's not too much to ask…could we…forget this ever happened?"

"Well, I know now that you love me, and you know that I love you, so I guess we could-" but she was cut off as he pounced on her and crushed her lips underneath his own. He landed on top of her on the bed, and she tangled her hands in his raven hair and pulled him even closer towards herself. Suddenly he broke away to look her in the eye.

"Just one thing, though."

"What?"

"Don't make me jealous of you ever again." She grinned, then pulled him into another passionate kiss. His tongue pressed against her mouth, as he begged for entrance. _Like a little blue-eyed puppy_, she thought. She let him in and he explored every crevice, every nook and cranny, and memorized it. All of a sudden, she unexpectedly pulled away.

"Wash your mouth out," she told him sternly.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You had a hamburger for lunch. Wash your mouth out, now." Danny grumbled as he got off her and headed for her bathroom to gargle. He returned about a minute later and the make-out session continued.

"So you think they'll get back together?" Mr. Manson asked Vlad downstairs in the lounge.

"Oh yes," he replied. "I think that this little invitation was an excellent idea, indeed. Daniel and Samantha will discover their love for each other, and we won't have to deal with their depression any longer."

* * *

Okay, I'll try to keep updating as soon as I can, but no guarantees. This is for several reasons: first, this past chapter was the last thing I've written, so I can no longer post a chapter and only have to finish up the next chapter. I'll be starting from scratch after each update. Second, I have two major finals on Thursday that I should probably study for (key word-should), so my time might be limited. But after that, school's done for me! Get this-the day after school ends, I'm going to Florida. RT much? 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!  
**

* * *

Vlad was talking with the Mansons in his study when a butler came in and announced that dinner was ready. The three adults got up and walked over to the dining hall. 

"Shouldn't we get the kids?" Mrs. Manson asked as the three of them sat down.

"If they don't come down in fifteen minutes, we'll go up and get them," Vlad replied.

Danny and Sam hadn't come down for dinner because they were, shall we say, otherwise occupied. At about the time the three adults were sitting down at the table, Sam's tongue was busy beating Danny's in a wrestling match. He felt rather than saw her lips curl upward in a triumphant smirk when she won, and responded by pulling her closer to him with his arms, which were conveniently wrapped around her waist. They pushed together and nosed out any stray atoms that dared to linger between them and deepened the kiss even more as the two of them lay on Danny's bed.

"Daniel?" Vlad asked as he opened the door to Danny's room without knocking. Danny and Sam each jumped about a foot in the air and landed on the floor next to the bed, with Danny on top of Sam and straddling her. Vlad entered the room followed by Sam's parents just in time to catch them in this…er…awkward position.

"Uh…sorry…" Danny mumbled as he got off of Sam and helped her up. The two of them smoothed out their rumpled clothes and stood in front of the adults, their faces as red as a pair of tomatoes.

"We were going to tell you that dinner was ready. That is, if you two are done sucking each other's faces off," Mrs. Manson stated. Sam was about to respond caustically, but then she noticed that her mother didn't look angry. Rather, she was wearing a soft smile that gave an aura of contentment. Sam bit back the retort and instead looked at her mother curiously.

"Do you two think that you can handle coming downstairs for a little bit without jumping on top of one another?" Mr. Manson asked. They nodded, the blush still apparent on both of their faces. They laced their fingers together and followed the adults downstairs hand in hand.

Dinner was pretty much a snorefest for the two teens, seeing as all Vlad and Sam's dad wanted to talk about was business. Tired of listening to the prospective future of Dalv Corp., Sam decided to close her eyes and rest her head on Danny's shoulder. Danny propped his chin up on the top of her head and slowly lost the battle he was waging against the forces of sleepiness. The last thing he registered was the scent of Sam's lilac shampoo before his world went black.

_Poke_

Danny sleepily batted away at the intruder who was trying to wake him up.

_Poke_

This time, his eyelids quivered for a bit, as he almost awoke, but then they returned to their closed position.

_Poke_

Finally, Danny opened his eyes and looked at the offender, expecting it to be Sam playing with him. The one person he _didn't_ expect to wake him up by poking him was Vlad Masters, billionaire CEO of Dalv Corp. and powerful evil half-ghost also known as Vlad Plasmius.

"Vlad? What the hell are you doing?" Danny asked disgustedly.

"Well, an ectoblast would probably result in your panicking and blasting the room to shreds out of reflex," the man replied. Danny wondered why Vlad would be so stupid as to mention ectoplasmic energy blasts in front of the Mansons, but then he looked around and noticed that the room was dark; dinner had obviously ended and Sam's parents had gone upstairs to bed. Along with Sam, a fact that served to annoy the younger halfa.

"Sam's gone," he stated.

"Yes, her father carried her upstairs to her room. They really can be caring parents, you know. Once Samantha lowers her guard and lets them into her life, she'll realize that they're not as bad as she thinks."

"You say that now, but you've never seen the ridiculous dresses they've tried to foist on her." Vlad shrugged and stood up from his seat, which had been Sam's during dinner. Danny followed suit and the two of them walked side by side in the hallway as they made their way to the stairwell. Neither of them made any move to start a conversation, so an awkward silence descended on them like a thick fog.

"So…" Vlad finally began. "How far did you get?"

"Excuse me?" Danny asked, a mixture of shock and disgust dominating his facial expression.

"How far did you two get while the three of us were downstairs? Second? Third?"

"First, not that it's any of your business," Danny replied. Vlad allowed the silence to reign for another thirty seconds before shooting Danny a sideways glance.

"And I thought you were a man," he accused.

"Alright, that's it!" Danny shouted as he transformed into his ghost half and started launching orbs of ecto-energy at Vlad, who had also transformed and dodged the blasts just in time. Danny had formed the fifth orb when he paused. All of a sudden, there was a hissing noise and the red orb changed to green. Danny let the orb destabilize and melt down to become green energy that radiated around his hands. Vlad inspected the energy with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm guessing you've given up on the whole evil thing?" he inquired.

"Yeah…" Danny replied distractedly, as his attention was focused on his hands. Vlad changed back to human and walked over to Danny. He put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you think you're ready to go home now?" Danny tore his gaze away from his hands and looked up at him, simultaneously changing back to human and allowing the energy to dissipate.

"Yeah."

Danny approached Sam at her locker one fine Thursday morning. After the weekend Sam had spent at Vlad's house, Danny had returned to Amity Park. He'd had a long talk with his parents and an even longer talk with Jazz, and his family had decided to generally let him off the hook, seeing as he'd sounded sincere about needing to work things out. Oh yeah, and he was forbidden from leaving his house for anything except school until graduation, but besides that he was home free.

As for school, Maddie had managed to convince Principal Ishiyama that Danny had needed to attend some important family business for the past four months, and the two women had finally worked out a compromise that would allow Danny to return to school: he could come back, provided that he passed a test that would test what he should have learned during the four months. Thank God Vlad had insisted on hiring a tutor.

"Hey, Sam," Danny greeted his girlfriend.

"Hey, Danny. What's up?" Sam asked as she gave Danny a peck on the cheek.

"I ordered a copy of Saw III on DVD some time ago and it came in the mail yesterday. Wanna come by my place and watch it tonight?" Sam gave a soft smile as she fingered the sleeve of Danny's long-sleeved T-shirt.

"I'd love to."

THE END


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